250 posts in three months

This is my 250th post since this blog went WordPress on September 4th. The number is sheer coincidence; and in actuality, this isn’t the 250th post I’ve written. There are two in the scheduler right now, there are some in the draft area, and I’ve deleted more than one after it had been in drafts long enough to make me hate it.

The problem with blogging is that there’s no easy way to estimate your true word output. Most posts include excerpts from news articles or other bloggers, utterly skewing the results of any kind of attempted word count. I think, however, it’s safe to say that my word count since April of 2001 is probably in the seven-figure range, and that doesn’t include the excerpts. It’s pretty easy (for me, anyway) to put out a 500 to 1,000-word essay. I have been known to ramble on about my cats, for instance, or my students. I have one on my current and former students in the pot. It isn’t working out quite right yet. I’m trying to convey the joy I get in teaching, which gets reflected back to them when my students tell me how much they liked me as a teacher.

Some people use alcohol as a pick-me-up. I prefer spending time with children. When I’m really feeling down, I tell Sarah that I need some twins therapy, and we are off on a lunch or a trip with Max and Rebecca, or, if it’s a weekend, I get the four-child barrage at Casa G., with the problem that there’s only one of me, and all four of them tend to call me at the same time to come and look or play or hear. The twins are at the point now where they need to talk to me on the telephone, too. Last week, I discovered that what worked with Sorena works with Max. If I ask him something he doesn’t know the answer to, or doesn’t want to tell me, he will silently hand the phone back to his mother. Sorena did that, too. It’s good to know that it still works.

And I digress again. I need to write more essays, I think. I haven’t been writing enough of them lately. More humor, too, come to think of it. The Lost episode summaries have fallen by the wayside of not having enough time to write them. But then, I’m working on the concept of working at home instead of trying to find that elusive company job, so that may change. I have many irons in the fire at the moment, including a book that I’ve wanted to write for a long time. It is in its infancy, it is nonfiction, and that is all you will learn at the moment. When I am willing to share more, you’ll be the first to know.

These last few months have been good for me, overall. I’ve been reminded that I do have a fair amount of marketable skills, and don’t have to settle for less than I’m worth. I’ve been reminded that I have a network of friends and well-wishers in the blogosphere. And I’ve managed to tread water financially, and not go backwards, for the first time in a long time.

My writing ability and output improve as my satisfaction level improves, which gives you folks more to read. I know you’re still reading, because the stats are going up again. And I know my invisibles are still there, because there are only about 750 comments on those 250 posts, which is a good and bad thing. Good, because I don’t have to worry so much about moderating comments. Bad, because it makes me wonder if you’re paying attention. But you must be, because the hit counter keeps on turning.

But 250 posts in three months: It doesn’t seem like a lot when you think it’s fewer than three posts a day. But extrapolate that over the year, and I will have written over a thousand posts by September of 2006. Work your way backwards and I suppose I’ve written somewhere between three and four thousand posts since I started my blog, possibly more. I didn’t have a daily output the first few months of the blog, but once I did, I rarely missed a day. This does not, of course, count blog-related comments or emails, which, added in, make me start to wonder how I ever have time to do anything else with my life.

In any case. Three months, 250 posts, 759 comments. Those are good numbers.

I’m happy with them.